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from the I'm-morally-opposed-to-statements-about-morality dept.
Simply telling people that their opinions are based on morality will make them stronger and more resistant to counterarguments, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that people were more likely to act on an opinion - what psychologists call an attitude - if it was labeled as moral and were more resistant to attempts to change their mind on that subject.
The results show why appeals to morality by politicians and advocacy groups can be so effective, said Andrew Luttrell, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in psychology at The Ohio State University.
"The perception that an attitude we hold is based on morality is enough to strengthen it," Luttrell said.
"For many people, morality implies a universality, an ultimate truth. It is a conviction that is not easily changed."
The key finding was how easy it was to strengthen people's beliefs by using the 'moral' label, said Richard Petty, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State.
"Morality can act as a trigger - you can attach the label to nearly any belief and instantly make that belief stronger," Petty said.
Always preface your comments with, "The Lord sayeth..."
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday June 04 2016, @10:56PM
Proof of god is the silly concept, m'lord.
Since you might be tempted of theorizing one, I suggest to start with simpler things.
For example you design an AI in a virtual world, the AI gets self aware, how do you show yourself and prove you live beyond the virtual world without AI having to BELIEVE that those pixels making up your avatar are not just part of the virtual world, a prank, or a more powerful AI?
But of course you would be content with a miracle, like all the others.
Miracles unfortunately cannot tell the hypothetical god from a sufficiently resourceful creature. High scientific knowledge, high tech, mind control, and so on. So, back to square one.
In fact when strange things happen to more than one person, the position of those who choose not to believe is "collective hallucination". Not very scientific, but still an equivalent position of a believer.
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